URJIT PATEL APPOINTED AS NEW RBI GOVERNOR

The government on Saturday appointed Urjit Patel to replace Raghuram Rajan as the RBI governor .Urjit Patel will take charge on September 4, the day Raghuram Rajan completes his three-year term and steps down.

Raghuram Rajan had announced in June that he would step down in September and return to academia after a single three-year term at the RBI.

Patel has been known as ‘inflation warrior’ of Rajan and will be the eighth Deputy Governor to be made Governor at RBI .

Patel, 52, headed a panel that recommended landmark changes to monetary policy in India, including a switch to inflation-targeting and the creation of a panel to set interest rates.
“The Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) has approved the appointment of Dr. Urjit R. Patel as Governor, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for a period of three years w.e.f. 04.09.2016,” a press note said.

The appointment has been made based on the recommendation of the Financial Sector Regulatory Appointments Search Committee (FSRASC) headed by Cabinet Secretary, said the release.

Prior to his appointment as the Deputy Governor at RBI in 2013, Patel was advisor (Energy and Infrastructure) with Boston Consulting Group, while he has also worked with Reliance Industries in the past.

He has worked with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) between 1990 and 1995 covering the US, India, Bahamas and Myanmar desks.
Like Rajan, Patel has a doctorate in economics from Yale University. He did his M Phil. in Economics from Oxford University in 1986 and B.Sc. (Economics) from University of London in 1984.

Urjit R Patel headed a committee that paved the way for the proposed monetary policy committee. He is considered as the architect of a switch to formally target inflation, among other changes.

Patel joined the central bank on January 11, 2013, months before Raghuram Rajan took charge as the governor, and had been heading the monetary policy department.